Nick Routledge@nick_routledge
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@lukeburgis 2/ Meanwhile, Thomas Jefferson in his letters: "The fig and  mulberry are so well known in America that nothing need be said of them. Their culture too, is by women and children and, therefore, earnestly to be desired in countries where there are slaves." facebook.com/share/p/1Sg1aXHwrK/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Copy of thread here: The expression “call a spade a spade” comes from the work of Plutarch, who originally wrote “call a fig a fig.” Fig was crude slang for the Vulva, so “call a c**t a c**t” is closer. Nicolas Udall translated the work in 1542 & changed it to a garden spade to avoid embarrassment. Thread. 1/ One of the earliest references to the fig is made by the poet Archilochus, ca. 700 BCE, who speaks of fig culture on the Greek island of Paros. In the Iliad, Homer refers to the "place of the wild fig tree”; in the Odyssey he mentions the fig three times… 2/ Homer tells of Ulysses' descent into the nether world where Tantalus was famishing: “Above, beneath, around his hapless head, Trees of all kinds delicious fruitage spread; There figs, sky-dyed, a purple hue disclose...”
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Copy of thread here: The expression “call a spade a spade” comes from the work of Plutarch, who originally wrote “call a fig a fig.” Fig was crude slang for the Vulva, so “call a c**t a c**t” is closer. Nicolas Udall translated the work in 1542 & changed it to a garden spade to avoid embarrassment. Thread. 1/ One of the earliest references to the fig is made by the poet Archilochus, ca. 700 BCE, who speaks of fig culture on the Greek island of Paros. In the Iliad, Homer refers to the "place of the wild fig tree”; in the Odyssey he mentions the fig three times… 2/ Homer tells of Ulysses' descent into the nether world where Tantalus was famishing: “Above, beneath, around his hapless head, Trees of all kinds delicious fruitage spread; There figs, sky-dyed, a purple hue disclose...”